I had a wonderful time at Strawberry Fields festival this year. It’s a festival on the border of NSW and Victoria, just outside of Tocumwal.
There is an emphasis on celebrating art, sound and creative expression with some of the best local and overseas electronic music. This year there was also a heap of other great bands like 30/70, Remi, Allysha Joy, The Cactus Channel, Electric Wire Hustle… actually, there are too many to mention. It was an amazing line up. I’m not going to list them all because you can check the page here. I highly recommend checking it out.
I went to Strawberry fields in 2015 and had an amazing time. My friends were in a heap of different bands and I got to hang out with them and dance and listen to music all day by the banks of the Murray River. It was a pretty idyllic couple of days.
2016 was really different. I set myself the challenge of hosting a market stall.
I’m surrounded by a group of incredibly hard working and creative musicians and this year I really wanted to be able to contribute to the art and vibe of the festival too.
Getting all the prep sorted for the festival took months. Applying, getting accepted, getting public liability insurance, figuring out what I was going to do exactly in the stall, buying and preparing all the rope, sourcing the tent (which turned out to be a bit of a nightmare), coordinating a crew of friends to help me run the stall for 6 days and designing the stall. By the time
By the time we arrived on site, the Wednesday before the festival started I felt prepared and excited for the challenge. I am incredibly fortunate to have a Partner who seems unwaveringly supportive and friends who understand how to help me in that extra special way people can when they know you really well.
There were, however, things I forgot. Insect repellant, which resulted to the WORST mosquito bites of my life. (I’m not even kidding they were the size of pancakes.) And an extra long electrical cable to reach the generator power point. The other stall holders were generous and kind and helped me, there was a really lovely sense of community between everyone. (Especially when a huge downpour happened and flooded half the stalls on the last day)
I taught a mini macrame workshop, which was organised as part of the festival. It was in front of the most beautiful floating installation. I love sharing my craft and this relaxed location surrounded by music and good vibes was the perfect setting.
I met lots of beautiful people and got the opportunity to share my Macrame creations with everyone at the festival. Tara, my friend had the brilliant idea we set up my large Macrame arch as a photo booth! We got heaps of photos of people in all kinds of glorious festival attire. (You can check out the gallery on my facebook page)
The Middle Aisle Macrame stall became a wonderful Macrame & Plant oasis for people to hang out and relax in. It was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done but I wholeheartedly respected the process and what I was able to achieve with a crew of amazing people by my side.
Love Maggie xx
